This summer, during my Leadership in Action (LiA) Project, I sat in on the registration of a pregnant woman from Mexico seeking asylum in Guatemala. She had, while pregnant, fled gang violence and walked for months from Mexico to Colombia, back to Mexico, and finally to Guatemala. Upon arrival, she and her partner found themselves homeless in Guatemala, struggling to make ends meet. This story is emblematic of the harrowing journeys that refugees/asylum seekers make. Supporting and protecting these vulnerable groups is vital work that has increasingly become underfunded. I contributed to this critical work through my LiA Project with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as a part of the Cash-Based Interventions (CBI) Unit in Guatemala. The CBI unit oversees the provision of all economic assistance to the UNHCR's persons of concern in Guatemala, including refugees/asylum seekers within Guatemala and Guatemalans seeking asylum in other countries. My LiA project was a transformative experience that developed my leadership skills and allowed me to impact some of Guatemala's most vulnerable populations. 

During the eight weeks I spent with the CBI unit, I took on various tasks, such as recalculating the transfer values for the Basic Needs Grant, interviewing potential beneficiaries with socio-economic evaluations, and assisting with monthly humanitarian assistance payments. These responsibilities allowed me to develop a network of technical skills, cultivating my quantitative and qualitative skills, which worked together to complement the administrative and practical undertakings I confronted daily. Skills such as collaboration, data analysis, problem-solving, and cultural sensitivity. Furthermore, most of my administrative and fieldwork work was done in Spanish, allowing me to exercise my fluency in new and challenging environments to communicate nuanced information efficiently.

The work I outlined in the paragraph above primarily involved the CBI unit's Basic Needs Grant, a short-term provision to alleviate immediate vulnerabilities to create the space for longer-term solutions. However, I also worked on cash assistance programs that aim to provide long-term support. Part of this was leading the monitoring of a cash assistance program that provides seed capital for small refugee businesses to help enable their success, as refugees face considerable obstacles and challenges when setting up businesses. It allowed me to gain intimate knowledge of various fields and divisions within the UNHCR. I was responsible for the creation of semi-structured interview questions, conducting and transcribing the interviews, analyzing these findings, and finally writing a 4,000-word mid-year report with recommendations to ensure the program's sustainability. This task required me to understand a variety of contexts, spanning numerous fields and perspectives, from behind-the-scenes administration to fieldwork, which made it incredibly challenging but, ultimately, rewarding. 

This project's scope required continuous adaptability, which required me to utilize a variety of skill sets in different moments and flexibility when confronting ever-evolving circumstances. In one instance, I was forced to readjust quickly when my colleague fell ill the day of the interviews, meaning I was the only one in my unit who knew the new interview questions well enough to conduct them. I had to overcome my nerves to take the lead and clearly communicate and direct the interview, a difficult task as many of the questions touched upon sensitive and traumatic subjects, which required increased attention and sensitivity. Furthermore, I considerably developed my time and project management abilities as I balanced other responsibilities and tasks I had to carry out with this project. After weeks of dedicated efforts, the report I devised will be the foundation of the program's final end-of-year report that will be presented to significant donors, such as the United States Government. 

My LiA project was ultimately an unforgettable experience, as I got to know a new country and culture, forging friendships and connections that will hopefully last a lifetime. Crucially, it reinforced my understanding of leadership as a multifaceted and profoundly collaborative undertaking. It cannot be contingent on one set of skills but requires flexibility and the ability to translate your skills for different contexts. Leadership is not an individual endeavor; no idea or project is ever carried out in a vacuum. Leadership requires the ability to recognize the skills and ideas of various people and harness them to realize more sophisticated solutions and impacts. This process only enhances the final decisions and results produced.  

My time at the UNHCR has given me a newfound, holistic understanding of leadership and the kind of work I want to do in the future. I now hope to one day return or join a similar organization concerned with the crucial mission of promoting and protecting human rights. While it has stimulated an immense amount of personal development, the tangible material impact of my work is what made my time there so special. Hundreds of families received economic assistance totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars from the CBI Unit during my time there; this assistance is a lifeline that works to reduce vulnerability, secure dignity, and help to safeguard and rebuild lives while ensuring that the agency remains in the hands of asylum seekers/refugees. As the numbers of displaced people worldwide continue to reach record heights in an increasingly hostile environment that proliferates anti-refugee rhetoric, the work done to protect refugees/asylum seekers has only become more critical. I am deeply grateful to my supervisor and colleagues for their support and mentorship and to the Laidlaw Foundation for enabling this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.